Notes: some fights we've been waiting for

Disclaimer: I still do not own the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise...but if I did...oh never mind

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles

Ch. 12: Below and Above


Through the winding tunnel and up flights of stairs. Past a few spikes and springs here and there. And finally...

"I see a light at the end of the tunnel, Sonic!"

"About time."

The tunnel opened up into a vast chamber. A red sphere was embedded into a small pedestal.

"What's this supposed to be?" Tails asked.

"Don't ask me, Tails."

"It was more thinking out loud."

"Well, there's only one way to find out."

"Good idea, Sonic. I'll stand back and watch."

"Thanks."

Sonic jumped on top of the sphere and was levitated in place.

"Whoa, what is happening?!"

Sonic was sent flying into the air in a beam of light. In a flash, he was in a much higher section of the ruins. Sonic stepped off the sphere and looked around, pausing to look at the Death Egg.

"I'm getting sick of looking at that ugly mug."

"I agree."

"Nice of you to join me, Tails."

"It was incredible, Sonic. This thing is a sort of primitive teleporter."

"Yeah, fascinating. Looks like there's another chamber up ahead."

As they entered, that's when they saw it. On the wall was an ancient picture.

"Sonic, do you see that?"

"If I can't, I'll need some glasses."

On the left was a figure that looked like Robotnik, with his left hand reaching out for the Master Emerald, and his right hand seemed to be beckoning his opponent. On the right was a figure that resembled Super Sonic.

"That must be the Master Emerald that Knuckles mentioned. That's the stone of power!"

"What makes it so special compared to the Chaos Emeralds though?" Sonic wondered aloud.

"The Master Emerald has the power to negate the Chaos Emeralds should the need arise," Knuckles answered as he came into view, "It also keeps Angel Island afloat in the sky."

"That sounds amazing!" Tails exclaimed.

"That's why it's my duty to guard this place. You've made your way into the Hidden Palace, intruders."

"I already told you, we're on a mission," Sonic said, "Have we really done anything to warrant your suspicions?"

"You already have your doubts about the doctor's motives," Tails added, "Why not helps us instead?"

"I don't know what to believe anymore. I do know that you shouldn't be here. For that, I have no choice but to stop you."

"I don't want to fight you, Knuckles, but if this is the only was to convince you...okay."

Knuckles was cracking his knuckles and punching the air, while Sonic stretched his legs. Sonic then looked Knuckles right in the eyes and gave a nod. Knuckles returned the nod and charged forward while winding up a punch. Sonic in turn ran straight towards his opponent. Knuckles landed a blow on Sonic, who retaliated with a swift kick. Tails kept looking back and forth at the combatants, unsure of what to do. Knuckles charged Sonic again, but this time Sonic used his insta-shield to blow him back. Knuckles then went to a glide, pointing both fists at Sonic, who managed to flip out of the way. As Knuckles was getting off the ground, Tails used his tails to knock him over again. Knuckles had a shocked look on his face.

"I didn't expect you to butt in, kid."

"He may be a kid, but not only is he smarter than you or me, he's not afraid to fight if he has to."

"An admirable quality, but I won't fight you. As you can see from the mural, the hedgehog is the one involved."

"What makes you think he's the one trying to steal the Master Emerald?" Tails asked, "Maybe he's actually trying to protect it."

"Eggman may have beaten us here," Sonic piped up, "But that doesn't mean you have to listen to everything he says."

Knuckles paused, as if considering those words, when suddenly...

*BOOM*

"What was that?!" Sonic shouted.

Knuckles raced ahead, "NO!"

Sonic and Tails followed close behind, and they wound up in a familiar chamber.

"Sonic, this is it. The shrine we've been seeing."

"No time for that, Tails, we've got company."

Dr. Robotnik had blasted through one of the walls. Hovering over the Master Emerald in his Egg Mobile, a large claw attached beneath clamped around the gem.

"Looks like I won a prize!"

Knuckles leapt onto the Master Emerald.

"I won't let you take it!" he snarled.

"Sorry, we've reached our weight capacity!"

Two cords extended from the mobile and sent Knuckles flying off with a jolt of electricity.

"So long, suckers! At last, my Death Egg will rise again!"

"Knuckles!" Tails cried, "Are you okay?"

The floor beneath them crumbled apart and they wound up in another chamber.

"Knuckles," Sonic said, "Come on, get up. We have to stop Eggman."

Knuckles sat up and shook his head.

"Well, that stung a bit."

He sat up, "I'm sorry I didn't believe you sooner."

"Don't worry about it," Sonic replied, "What matters now is that we get the Master Emerald back."

"Thank you."

Knuckles looked around, "This wall should lead the way."

He then punched through said wall, motioning the duo to follow. Knuckles stopped at another of those teleporters. He then knelt on the ground.

"Sorry, I'm still a bit out of it."

"Take your time," Tails said, "Not everyone could walk away from an electric shock like that so quickly."

"But there's no time to waste. Come on."

Knuckles stepped onto the teleporter and disappeared. Sonic and Tails followed quickly.


In a flash, they were seemingly in the sky.

"Wow," Tails was in awe, "Where are we now?"

Knuckles was panting heavily on the ground, "This is the Sky Sanctuary. If his Death Egg really is finished, then up here you'll be able to infiltrate it as it passes by."

Sonic gave him a pat on the back, "Thanks, knucklehead. You stay and recover, while we stop that eyesore."

"Speaking of which," Tails added, pointing into the distance.

The Death Egg was rising above the clouds, and several objects were flying away from it. One of the objects flew towards the trio. It was another one of Robotnik's Badniks. This one looked like a humanoid egg with spindly limbs, a jet pack, and red eyes. In one hand was a laser gun.

"These are my newest creations, and most near and dear to my heart: the Eggrobo."

"I'm sure for you it's like looking in a robot mirror," Sonic quipped.

"Oh, such rapier wit. I have another surprise for you...if you make it that far."

The Eggrobo turned its pistol on Knuckles and charged the laser. Sonic gave it a quick kick to the face and it slammed into a stone column.

"Thanks," Knuckles said, "But you need to get going. I can take any that come after me. There's just one more thing I need to do."

Knuckles glided across a chasm and activated a switch. A bridge was now spanning the gap between Sonic and the rest of the Sanctuary.

"I'm sorry...for everything. Please, get the Master Emerald back."

Sonic gave him a thumbs up, and then motioned for Tails to follow. As they began to ascend the ruins, Tails was in taking in the scenery.

"This place is so beautiful, Sonic. I can't believe all these ruins are up in the sky."

The duo was now running past rotating platforms, floating scenery, lovely fountains, and more of those annoying Eggrobos.

"Look at me, Sonic! I'm actually bouncing on a cloud!"

"In that case, who needs a spring?"

They bounced off the clouds to reach ever higher ruins, at least until they were stopped.

"Is that what I think it is?" Sonic said aloud.

Robotnik's old Egg Mobile-H hovered into view and began swinging its ball and chain.

"Why'd you say that, Sonic?"

"Oh right, you weren't there. This is the first mobile Eggman ever tried to use against me back when we first met at Green Hill. Oh, the memories..."

This whole time, Sonic was rather nonchalantly dodging the swings of the wrecking ball.

"Okay, I'm getting annoyed by this."

Sonic now quickly destroyed the mobile, and that's when he noticed something odd. The cockpit was covered. Even as the mobile flew off to a different part of the ruins, there was no taunt, no threat, nothing.

"Something funny going on here, Tails."

"Let me guess, you noticed the cockpit?"

"Got it in one. Since when does Eggman not show himself?"

"Maybe it was automated since he's preoccupied with the Death Egg."

"...maybe..."

They took a teleporter to a higher plane and continued. Moving forward, they kept going until they were stopped yet again.

"Okay, now this one I remember," Tails said, "Back in Metropolis."

It was the Flying Eggman: the mobile was surrounded by seven egg-shaped pods that were spinning around like an improvised shield. When Sonic and Tails tried to attack the main mobile, the pods became miniature look alikes as a distraction.

"This was annoying enough the first time," Sonic said.

They focused on the actual mobile, and it was soon fleeing the scene again. Again, no sign of Eggman anywhere. Another teleporter took them ever higher.

"I wonder what that surprise is that he mentioned?" Tails wondered.

A few more warp points transported them ever closer to the Death Egg.

"Maybe he'll just give up," Sonic joked, "That would be a surprise."

"Oh, come on, Sonic. Not only is that incredibly far-fetched, but you wouldn't like that one bit."

"Hey, lots of people don't like surprises."

One more teleporter took them to a section with a tall spire. Sonic and Tails looked up and saw the Death Egg slowly rising. Out of nowhere, though, came a flash of blue to smash the teleporter.

"Well that was unnecessary. Those things only go one way."

That's when Sonic noticed what the blue blur actually was.

"Speaking of unwanted surprises..."

"Here's the surprise, Hedgehog! Back from the dead for another fight. The new and improved Mecha Sonic!"

This version was blue accented with a bit of silver, not as bulky as before, but no less powerful. There were wheels on his feet, and his eyes were a menacing orange.

"As you can see, this one is actually blue."

"Congrats," Sonic snarked.

"I made him faster, but he's still as strong as ever."

Mecha Sonic crouched, and sped across the floor towards Sonic. Sonic dodged, but the doppelganger spun into a ball and bounced around the arena in all his spiky glory.

"You keep building them, and I'll keep destroying them, Eggman."

"Mecha Sonic was the one piloting my mobile earlier. I didn't want to spoil his arrival too early, so that's why he stayed hidden inside."

"Sonic," Tails whispered, "This is just another distraction. We need to get past this faker and up that spire so we can board the Death Egg."

"Leave it to me, pal, I'll make this short."

Sonic sped across the field, and Mecha Sonic in turn tried to match his speed. The robot did a quick turn and rammed into Sonic.

"Okay, that was a good hit. You might be strong, but I've got help."

Tails gave the robot a good hit from behind. Mecha Sonic turned to glare, and was about to retaliate, when Sonic spin dashed into him. Mecha turned around and zoomed right up to Sonic, grabbing him and slamming him into the ground.

"Okay, this is starting to bug me. Time for the secret weapon."

"You mean you're going to...?"

Sonic began to concentrate, trying to ignore the fact that Mecha Sonic was attempting to choke him. Mecha then pulled him in for a decidedly deadly bear hug.

"SONIC!"

*FLASH*

The blinding flash of light, as well as a wave of energy, sent Mecha reeling back and smashing into the nearby column. When the light subsided, Sonic was hovering in mid-air. Rather than a pure gold like when he became Super Sonic, he was flashing between the seven Emerald colors, and sparks danced around him.

"What is THAT supposed to be?!" Robotnik's voice rang out.

"He's...well, he's..." Tails struggled to come up with a name.

"Hyper Sonic."

Tails was a bit startled when Sonic spoke, but replied, "That's a perfect name."

"I can't believe it," came a voice from behind.

Tails turned to see Knuckles had caught up with them.

"Knuckles, are you okay?"

"I'm feeling a bit better. I had to see you guys off. I certainly didn't expect to see this. He's using the power of the Super Emeralds. It's incredible...oh, and he has a robot version of himself. That's different."

Mecha Sonic freed himself from the rubble and charged at Hyper Sonic. In his new super state, Sonic moved even faster, and quickly smacked Mecha Sonic around like a toy. Mecha began to spark as he slumped over and collapsed to the ground. Hyper Sonic powered down, now back to a somewhat tired regular Sonic.

"Sonic, are you okay?" Tails asked.

"I'm fine," Sonic replied, catching his breath, "But that was intense."

Suddenly, the landscape began to rumble.

"You guys need to get up that spire," Knuckles said, "All this commotion is causing the ruins to fall apart. I'll be fine, just get to that monstrosity."

"You don't have to tell me twice."

Sonic had a quick stretch, and then took off up the ramp, with Tails following close behind. As thet ascended, they watched the landscape they were previously standing on crumble. Mecha Sonic fell who knows where, while Knuckles glided to a more stable section of the Sanctuary.

"Looks like once again we'll be on Robotnik's turf for the final confrontation."

"Since when has him having a home field advantage ever really mattered?" Sonic said with a smirk.

Higher and higher they went, until they finally reached the top of the spire. The Death Egg was just passing by.

"Ready, buddy?"

Tails gave him a thumbs up. With that, the two of them did a spin dash and jumped onto the Death Egg. Sonic was grasping on for his life, while Tails flew nearby.

"Okay, we probably should've found a better spot for this," Sonic said.

"Up there! There's a spot we can enter."

They found a small chink in the armor and went inside.